10,000 STUDENTS HAVE TRIED DRUGS: OFFICIAL

JAKARTA (JP): At least 10,000 junior and senior high school students in the
city are believed to have experimented with drugs, particularly shabu-shabu
(crystal methamphetamine), an official said on Tuesday.

The number represents 0.5 percent of the city's total 1.8 million students
at the 2,000 state and private high schools in Jakarta.

"In each of the schools, there are between five and eight students who have
reportedly used drugs. Most of them consumed shabu-shabu," Adang Ruchiat,
head of the youth supervisory department of the city office of the Ministry
of Education and Culture, said on the sidelines of a seminar on drugs.

He said the percentage of students who experimented with drugs was small
compared to the total number of students.

The estimate was based on reports collected from the schools' principals by
the ministry's office recently.

"But most of the students just used the drugs once or twice. Only a few of
them have become addicted to drugs," he said.

At least 100 drug-addicted high school students have been expelled or
withdrawn from their schools so far this year, he said.

Conservative

However, a noted psychiatrist from the University of Indonesia, Dadang
Hawari, believed Adang's estimate was overly conservative.

"I'm sure that the number is 10 times higher," said Dadang, who also
attended the meeting.

He regretted the comments of many parties, especially government officials,
who based their conclusions on percentages to gloss over the realities of
the situation.

"It's already a red alert. We can't say that the number of students
consuming drugs is still small anymore," Dadang insisted.

Adang said about 20 percent of the students believed to have tried drugs
were from affluent families living in the upscale residential areas of
South Jakarta.

Dadang also said that many of his patients were from South Jakarta.

He suggested parents whose children were already addicted to drugs should
undergo treatment.

Patients could also enroll in an in-home special treatment for a cost of Rp
300,000 (US$42) each, he added.

Many parents of drug victims have complained that the price of drug
treatment programs in hospitals could reach between Rp 2 million and Rp 8
million per patient. (jun)